Professional sports

ST. LOUIS -- Mike Matheny managed with a playoff intensity. His offense didn't respond. "It's baseball, you're going to have times when you just don't get it done," Matheny said after his St. Louis Cardinals fell 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night. "Tonight was one of those times guys make good pitches in big situations and we couldn't finish it off."...

ST. LOUIS -- Playing with a heavy heart, Aledmys Diaz hit his first career grand slam and the St. Louis Cardinals finished with five home runs Tuesday night in a 12-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. St. Louis kept pace in a tight race for the two NL wild cards, with a chance to gain some ground pending San Francisco's late game against Colorado...

ST. LOUIS -- Joey Votto and Adam Duvall hit two of the Cincinnati[[OpenSingle]]s four homers as the Reds routed the St. Louis Cardinals 15-2 on Monday night. Reds starter Tim Adleman (3-4) retired the first 10 Cardinals he faced and went a career-long seven innings. It was his first win since Aug. 19...

What a thrilling experience the past four months have been for Joey Lucchesi. In the final week of May, the Southeast Missouri State baseball team claimed its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship since 2002, with Lucchesi earning MVP honors. After the Redhawks dropped consecutive games in early June at an NCAA Regional in Starkville, Mississippi, Lucchesi added a number of postseason awards to his resume, including a third-team All-American selection by Baseball America...

CHICAGO -- David Ross homered and teamed with Jon Lester for another scoreless performance, and the Chicago Cubs hurt St. Louis' wild-card chances with 3-1 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday night. Ben Zobrist had three hits and scored two runs as Chicago finished with a major league-best 57-24 home record. It's the most home wins for the Cubs since they went 58-19 at the West Side Grounds in 1910...

CHICAGO -- The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot to accomplish if they want to return to Chicago in two weeks for a rematch of last year's NL Division Series. They would have to qualify for one of the wild-card spots, then win the single-elimination playoff game...

DENVER -- The St. Louis Cardinals picked up a win before a pitch was even thrown when reserve outfielder Jose Martinez captured a playful, pregame anthem with Colorado reliever Carlos Estevez. Too bad for the Cardinals that didn't count in the standings. They sure could've used it...

DENVER -- Adam Wainwright was shaky on the mound and shined at the plate with a career-high four RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-5 on Tuesday night to move into a tie for the top NL wild card. The free-swinging Wainwright lined a two-run double in the second inning and brought in two more with a bloop single in the fifth. ...

DENVER -- Carlos Martinez threw five effective innings and added a two-run double, helping the St. Louis Cardinals gain ground in the NL playoff race with a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. The Cardinals moved within one game of wild card-leading New York after the Mets lost to Atlanta. San Francisco played later in Los Angeles against the Dodgers...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Alex Reyes arrived in the majors this year already packing some of the best stuff in baseball. On Sunday, the 22-year-old Cardinals right-hander showed he can handle the spotlight just fine, too. Reyes pitched seven dominant innings in his third major league start, fellow rookie Aledmys Diaz hit a two-run homer and St. Louis moved up in the tight NL wild-card race by beating the San Francisco Giants 3-0 on Sunday...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Kolten Wong hit a sacrifice fly that capped a two-run comeback in the ninth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a big win in their playoff chase, beating the San Francisco Giants 3-2 Saturday night. The Cardinals had lost three straight and held a team meeting prior to the game. Their win further tightened the NL wild-card race -- the Giants and Mets are tied for the top two spots, with the Cardinals trailing by two games...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- All that talk about Buster Posey's second-half power drought was answered with one mighty swing in a September game that mattered, and his two-run homer helped the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-2 Friday night in a matchup of playoff contenders...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fist-pumping Johnny Cueto pitched a five-hitter and retired his final 17 batters, and the San Francisco Giants gained ground in the playoff race with a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night. The Cardinals' loss clinched the NL Central title for the Chicago Cubs...

The seeds were sewn decades ago right here in Southeast Missouri. The resulting flowers might be familiar to you if your a St. Louis Cardinals fan and have ever stood to sing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame.' On Wednesday, Cardinals organist Dwayne Hilton, a native of Ellington, Missouri, made a stop in Jackson to sit down at a familiar old organ and play some tunes -- including a few of the ones you might hear at Busch Stadium...

ST. LOUIS -- Jon Lester gave the Chicago Cubs a much-needed boost. Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of home runs and Lester pitched eight dominant innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0 on Wednesday to clinch at least a wild-card playoff berth...

ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Moss broke out of a lengthy slump with a tiebreaking home run and Aledmys Diaz connected in his return to the starting lineup, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Chicago Cubs 4-2 Tuesday night. The Cardinals ensured that the runaway Cubs won't clinch the NL Central at Busch Stadium. Chicago's magic number is three, and the series in St. Louis wraps up Thursday...

ST. LOUIS -- The overriding rooting interest St. Louis has in the new NFL season is whichever team might beat the Rams -- the Los Angeles Rams. Monday's late game at San Francisco was the Rams' first regular-season contest since leaving its 21-season stay in the Gateway to the West for, well, the West...

ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Hendricks took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up Jeremy Hazelbaker's leadoff homer, and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Monday night to close in on the NL Central crown. Hazelbaker drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field stands for his 12th home run. Hendricks (15-7), the major league ERA leader at 2.03, was relieved by Aroldis Chapman...

ST. LOUIS -- A one-run loss to the Milwaukee Brewers left Kolten Wong and the St. Louis Cardinals frustrated. Ryan Braun hit a solo home run in the ninth inning, leading the Brewers to a 2-1 win Sunday and dropped the Cardinals back in the NL wild-card race. They are a half-game behind the Mets for the second wild-card slot...

ST. LOUIS -- Randal Grichuk made two key plays and Adam Wainwright pitched eight strong innings to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Saturday night. Grichuk made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Jake Elmore trying to score from second in the eighth. Then he doubled in the bottom half, helping clear the way for a five-run rally. Matt Adams drove in the tying run with a grounder to second and Grichuk scored on Kolten Wong's single, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead...

ST. LOUIS -- Domingo Santana and Orlando Arcia hit back-to-back homers as the Milwaukee Brewers continued their recent road dominance routing the St. Louis Cardinals 12-5 on Thursday night. Hernan Perez had four hits and three RBIs for the Brewers, who won their season-high fifth straight on the road and have won seven of their last eight games...

PITTSBURGH -- The St. Louis Cardinals were done in by a nemesis. Jung Ho Kang led off the eighth inning with a home run, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday night to snap an eight-game losing streak and cost St. Louis a chance to sweep the three-game series...

PITTSBURGH -- Down to his final strike and his team trailing by a run with two outs in the ninth, St. Louis pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter told himself to just find a pitch he could handle. When the fastball from closer Tony Watson ended up right down the middle and not up and away as Watson hoped, Carpenter pounced. ...

PITTSBURGH -- Adam Wainwright drove in three runs and survived five occasionally bumpy innings to pick up his first victory since mid-July as the St. Louis Cardinals drummed the staggering Pittsburgh Pirates 12-6 on Monday. Wainwright hit an RBI-double off Chad Kuhl (3-3) in the second and added a two-run single in the fourth as the Cardinals held on to the second wild card spot in the National League by sending the Pirates to their seventh straight loss...

CINCINNATI -- Randal Grichuk and Kolten Wong homered, Carlos Martinez carried a shutout into the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. Yadier Molina had two of the Cardinals' five hits as they avoided being swept in Cincinnati for the first time since July 2012...